Wisconsin To Chicago - April 3+4 & Disney Challenge Day 7/8!

April 3rd, 2011:
 
I woke up this morning and did a quick 20 minute (alright...19 minute) workout.  The 'exercise room' was just that, a hotel room, with the bed and dresser cleared out, and then an old non-electric bike, old treadmill (that I felt like I was making move myself) and a big weight machine.  There was a tv! I felt like I was making a lot of noise early in the morning and gave up quickly. Instead I showered and we had a free continental breakfast that included waffles and Orange Juice! I snagged some apples and danishes for the road before finding out Ashley doesn't like them - oops! (The apples and peanut butter came in handy later on though!). We jammed to Ryan Seacrest's America Top 40 and some country as we headed towards...

Pretty sure Wisconsin is the Indoor Waterslide Capital of the US...They are everywhere!!

Yogi Bear!

 PARDEEVILLE!

Pardeeville is where my old manager Janice is from! It's a small town of 2085 people (approximately) and a lot of the shops were closed because it was Sunday (everyone let out a collective "awww!") however not the gas station where I found this:

Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream!

It was no Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack but we couldn't find that one anywhere!!

We went for Subway attached to the town bank...and found these. Horse Parking!!

Goodbye Pardeeville! 

We left Pardeeville through a town of 631 people! We made our way through the countryside to Chicago! Ashley was a mad good driver through the multiple lanes of traffic.  We arrived around 430 and after a little internet time we went for some Deep Dish Pizza!

It was sooo good! We also had a Honkers Ale beer and it was delicious.  After dinner and watching the blackhawks lose (YEEYAH!), we took the ‘C’ line train to Wrigley Stadium and had a drink in the bar across the street.  He didn’t want to take our Canadian licenses as ID, wanted a passport instead, but we grumbled a little and he let us in! I had a Mighty Arrow Seasonal Pale Ale. It was a Belgium beer and very nice. Ashey wasn’t a fan and had a Coors.  Then we headed back because we were sooo tired!!!

April 4^th

We woke up around 830 and were out the door by 9.  We had Panera Bread for breakfast and man was I stoked!! I got a Panera Card so I get a free smoothie next time I use it! Yeehaw!  Then we headed out to explore Chicago.  We walked all around Grant Park, Lincoln Park, the Museums by Lake Michigan, the Planetarium and the Aquarium.  Then we found out where Ashley could get a Jonathan Toews tshirt as he is her favourite, and also from Winnipeg.  Then we found out where HARPO studios was!!! Yup, check this out...I went to HARPO! Well  the outside anyays, We didn’t see Oprrah but I picked up my darling niece or nephew an adorable bib!!!!  Pictures below...

 Hostel Welcome Wall

Panera Bread is the greatest thing ever. So Yummy!

 Lion and me!

 Oprah!

 This is my favourite musical! I've seen it twice...I want more!

The other Chicago baseball team.. White Sox!

We bussed back downtown and got our luggage and the car.  I really like Chicago. It is a really super clean city, crazy clean! And everyone was so friendly! And nice. We didn’t even ask for help and it was offered J   Then after a brief GPS issue, we met Ashley’s friend’s Christine and Frankie for lunch in Forest Park, Christine’s neck of the woods.  They were both culinary CPs (college program cast members) and worked the Epcot Food and Wine Festival 'Canada' booth with Ashley on her first contract. We went to a funky café where local artists work was on the walls and for sale.  I had a tofu veggie wrap – yum! 

We left Chicago towards Lafayette where we stopped by Purdue University! It was a spur of the moment thing but fun to see!  On our way through Indiana we noticed a freakishly HUGE amount of wind turbines..which I just googled and apparently are part of a Wind Farm. Who knew?...

We made our way through Indianapolis into Kentucky on our way to Louisville! We stayed overnight in Shephardsville which was right outside Louisville.  Once we arrived we sorted out what we were going to do in Florida so that was really good! I may have also thought we were going to get killed in this hotel (not based on reality whatsoever) but made Ashley share a bed with me! The joy of good friends :)

Disney Challenge Day 7: Favourite Disney Sidekick

My first thought was Lefou hands down.  He sings one of my favourite songs "Gaston" and is just hilarious.  Yes he is awful and mean and I'm sure there are plenty of really fantastic good sidekicks, but for me, Lefou is where it's at!

However then I thought about it a wee bit more, and realized that Jiminy Cricket is probably considered a sidekick.  He's dressed to the nines, and let's admit it, he's the concious we all need. I <3 Jiminy!

Disney Challenge Day 8: Favourite Disney Villain

My favourite Disney villain is tough. My favourite villain that I've interacted with is probably Captain Hook.  We went to the same villain stop a few days in a row trying to meet Hades, but we always missed him and ended up with Captain Hook..the same one of course. He recognized us and was pretty funny.  My favourite Disney Villain though has to be the most evil on of all (besides the Devil from Fantasia..he's just too creepy)... Maleficent! Everything she does is out of spite and her evil knows no bounds.  She isn't a joking, silly villain or a messed up, dufus villain - Maleficent is straight up evil.  

Also when I was younger I met her and it was so scary! She asked if I knew her name, which I only kind of knew how to say, so I mumbled, she told me to 'speak up!" and I guess I said it well enough because she allowed me to have her autograph.  It was freaky! 

The End of Vancouver + Disney Challenge Day 6!

This was written  April 2nd, 2011! SO here it is...

My last day of work was awful.  I learned a lot though, mainly how to not manage a business.  I learned that *when you have incredible employees for years, you should give them a little incentive to stay - maybe more than a 25 cent raise in 4 years.
*Don't pit them against each other and try to force them to keep secrets from each other.
*Don't be slack sometimes and strict other times, consistency in leadership is key, and your staff will know what to expect
*Always lead by example, don't tell your staff to stop watching something and clean up when you yourself are standing there watching. And don't stand right beside a rack, tell your staff it has to be moved 2 feet, and then walk away.
*Don't make false promises and offers you can't keep. Period.
*Don't ask for your staffs opinions and act like there is an open door policy and then shut them down
*Don't take your staff for granted and don't let them constantly leave upset
*Don't constantly make your better staff start earlier and work longer and harder while the weaker staff stroll in later and leave earlier.
*Don't have weak staff.
*If you do have weak staff, train them! Put in the effort. Don't just keep giving them medial jobs and rolling your eyes.
*Keep inventory!!
Honestly I probably should have left my job when my excitement turned to frustration and strong work ethic turned to complacency.  I stopped caring because no one else did. This isn't who I am, or how I operate and I'm embarrassed.  I did everything I had to, and more (they couldn't totally beat the Disney out of me) but where as I use to leave work daily crying from frustration due to poor management, working environment and standards, I started walking out the door and clearing it from my mind.  When I started I had grand ideas of helping create an even better work space, and a better experience for guests - too bad they 'had it all under control.'  Now I can take a huge sign of relief, of calmness, of happiness and walk away with a few life lessons learned.  I had always left jobs I hated, and from now on I will again. I'm not saying that I will give up when things get tough, but eight months of constant frustration, anger, sadness and nothingness were not worth it, not professionally.  I also learned that I have to be more concise with what I want, what I'm willing to compromise and what I won't do.  I also need to work on saying 'no.'  This is the key to not being used and abused in the work place and being forced to do things you aren't comfortable with.  Set out perimeters with yourself and trust them, believe in them and don't let anyone push you around.

On to more fun things… I’ve been thinking about my favourite hero and I kind of think Robin Hood maybe now instead? He’s totally cool, good looking (dare I say..foxy ;) ) and does many great things for the poor.  Lets chalk it up to a tie…unless Robin Hood can be used for todays…

Disney Challenge Day 6: Favourite Disney Animal

I feel as though this means ‘side kick’ animal Apu and Meeko style.  I would say Mushu from Mulan is pretty stellar and it’s hard to argue with Pascal - the cute little chameleon from Tangled. Meeko is a thrifty litte fello and I have a Flik stuffie (as in this pic). The forest creatures are so helpful in Snow White and the quirrel in Enchanted works so hard to save Giselle.  I dreamed for a long time of having a pet tiger, like Raja but think I have to give this one to the monkeys..Apu, you’re the man! Err…monkey.  He has the original ‘puss-in-boots’ eyes, is such a geat friend and is super cute.

Every time I make these decisions I get ‘buyer’s remorse’ it’s so hard to choose a favourite. I’m going to be bold and switch – to all the Cinderella country home creatures.  The helpful mice, the cute old dog, the horsey – love them all! However if I can go into the parks, my favourite Disney animal there is the donkey in Pirates of the Caribbean right before the burning village half behind a hald closed barn door. I don’t exactly know, what it is, but I love him!!!

Look at that little guy...so happy :)

I guess my answer to today’s Challenge is a bit of a cope out, but I don’t care – I love all of Disney’s Animals!

 I love this animal ... my Lily Pug!!

I love my luggage tags as well...Thanks Bahamas and Stephie for these beauties!

Now for this morning… my sister has not had her baby yet. Yes this makes me sad. Obviously I feel like a huge jerk flying a way right when he/she is suppose to pop out, but I also made a commitment to Ashley.  She couldn't drive down alone.  I also am sad because it means I’m moving out of my sister’s apartment. Although it hasn’t’ always been easy I feel so lucky to have been able to share this time with Kim, Gareth, Lily and Munchkin.  I never throught I would be so knowledgeable about babies and it feels weird to think of not watching ‘bringing home baby’ all the time. My sister has erased many of my fears about pregnancy and I almost feel a maternal instinct somewhere deep down.  I’ve been so incredibly lucky to get to be among the first to feel the baby kick, dance and move about, and words cannot describe the perienced of hearing the babies heartbeat. As a not-s-religious person I can’t really think of a way of saying it, besides I feel so blessed to be a part of this time in their lives.  My sister is a strong, courageous, thoughtful, beautiful, hilarious, honest, strong-willed unbelievable person and I am in awe of her.  I also cannot describe how lucky I feel; to have gotten to jknow Gareth better. He went from my sister’s super amazing fiancé to the brother I never had and am so happy to get! (thank you Kimmy!) He’s caring, honest, hilarious gets way too mmuch glee out of scaring my and wont’ let me be a jerk – to myself or anyone else. 

Yah I'm emotional...It was sad leaving my sister!

Kim and Gar have had to show me a bit of tough love these past 8 months (mainly the first half!) but they also helped me gain a self-conciousness, and an understanding of who I am, and how I deserve to be treated.  They are such an encouraging, loving, helpful pair and I love them both so much. I hope I’ve been able to give something back to them as well. A little crash course in raising a quasi-teenager (alright, fine, I’m an adult. Blek!) 

I learned to love running (thanks to Kimmy “Just make it to the Fish Katie”) love cooking (even cooked meat for that little Munchkin) and learned to love myself.  Yes I cried when they dropped me off at the airport. Yes I will be them in 10 days.  But I will be a guest, not a room-mate. Thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart – thank you! I love you!.

Tears Free!

I probably took the longest time imaginable to meander to my gate for my first flight to Saskatoon enroute to Winnipeg! I ‘ve seen many small airports, but Saskatoon didn’t even have digital displays for the flight times, numbers and locations – wow! Now I’ve been to of the 10 provinces! Yay!

Winnipeg to border: Once I got off the plane Ashley was waiting! 

Road Trip Buddy! You may remember her from this!

We got my luggage headed for the car, and were off! We drove to the border where we had to pull over for 45 minutes. The man had never seen Ashley’s visa before so it took a bit of time.  Then we were free again! We drove through Grand Forks, then had Jimmy John’s in Fargo, drove through Minniapolis/St.Paul before crossing into Wisconsin to Eau Claire wehere we stopped for the night around 130am at the Days Inn! It was a good 9 hours of driving, we were soooo ready for bed!  Following are some random first day pictures:

Manitoba Stampede

 Soo many wind turbines in Lower Manitoba

 Ashley's Mum made super yummy Chex mix

 North Dakota

 Minnesota

Days Inn: Eau Claire, Wisconsin 

Really quick Weee Update

I'm going to start off by saying my poor photography skills are due to the darkness and the movement of the car!
Its currently 2am Wisconsin time, and I work up about 630am BC time... and have been in 3 provinces and 3 states today! I need to sleep so I can't update totally now, but I've a lot down on paper so you won't miss anything exciting! Today was a lot of driving, a lot of missing good sign picture opportunities and some jammin' tunes!
Tomorrow we're heading to Pardeeville then Chicago! Wooooooo!

Update and News!

I took this lovely snapshot myself! And without pulling over in the "Do not pull over here" spot!

Well first of all I'm sorry for falsely promising an exciting post the other day and then writing nothing. Also if you make that apple sundae don't over do it with the syrup and you should add toasted shredded coconut! Yummmm!

Now for an email from Kristen:

Greetings,

Once again Congratulations on being offered a role representing Canada on the Cultural Representative Program at Walt Disney World! I hope you are still very much excited for the adventure you are able to take to Walt Disney World. I just wanted to touch base with some information to assist you between now and your arrival of August 16^th.

Arrival Date of August 16^th: This arrival date is the date you will want to arrive in Florida, and is the day your housing will be ready. If you do decide to arrive earlier than this date, you will need to provide your own accommodation. However, you will not be starting work on the16^th, so please do not feel you need to arrive earlier. Instead, when you arrive you will have the 16^th of August to get use to the Florida weather, meet your new roommates, and meet all the other people around the world arriving to Disney with you. You would then start orientations the following days. For the orientation you will need to wear professional attire and this can be what you wore to the interviews. So do pack at least one professional outfit for Florida.

End Date of August 10^th, 2012: This is the day you will need to check out of your housing. You do have 30 days to travel after this date, and there will be many students around the world who I am sure would love to have you as a travel buddy!

Background/Police Check: This document is currently the most important for you to be concentrating on. However, this document does not need to be an advance check, instead you will want to visit your local police department to have the form completed. Once you have this form done, you will need to scan and email it or fax it directly to me. Please do this by June 1^st.

Step by Step Guide: To assist you in the adventure to Florida, Yummy Jobs has put together a Step by Step Guide that will answer many questions, such as about visas, police checks, and everything in between. To access this document, you are now able to log into your profile onwww.yummyjobs.com and view the “Documents” tab. Please be sure to read the Canadian Guide, as the other countries will vary in information.

Visas: Walt Disney World is currently working on these documents for you, which you will have about 2-4 weeks before your arrival to Florida.

Program Assessment Fee: As mentioned during the interview, you will need to pay the program assessment fee ($100 US) before your arrival to Florida. This fee acts as a deposit to reserve your room. You will be receiving an email from Walt Disney World regarding this fee about one month before your arrival to the US. You will not be able to pay this fee until you receive this email, so do keep an eye on your inbox in July!

And if at any time you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself. I will be here to assist you Every Step of the Way!

Have a Great Day,

Kristen Thornton

Yummy Jobs

I have noticed a lot of people asking if they have to arrive before their arrival date, and as Kristen pointed out above, you don't! The day you arrive you don't have to do anything but check in at Vista Way, and then they drive you over to your apartment (either at Patterson or the Commons) and you have the rest of the day to shop, meet people and do whatever you need to do. I won't be arriving early, I will be flying out the night of the 15th though red-eye style so that I can arrive in the morning and not crazy late. Plus as anyone who really knows me knows, I really like red eye flights, as well as layovers! I love layovers in random places and tend to take the most layover/stopovers I can get (as they also are usually the cheapest!). I also need to be at the front of the plane on the aisle. As you saw with my trip to Toronto I will never sit in a window seat again, and the thought of the middle seat? Where are you suppose to look when you're sleeping? So awkward! Plus I just like getting up and not feeling trapped in there by other people. Phew.

Now for much awaited very exciting news!

I'M GOING ON A ROAD TRIP AND GOING TO UNIVERSITY AND WORKING AT DISNEY WORLD!

There we go. You know that point in life when you have worked really hard and planned and dreamed and then all of a sudden you realize everything you've ever dreamed of is starting to happen and becoming real? That's the moment I'm having right now. And it's absolutely incredible. I have been very overwhelmed and stressed out the last couple of months and now it's as if I have taken a huge deep breath, let it all out and can see everything coming together. Here's the run down:

March 25th: That's today! A good place to start I figured... I returned home from an 8 hour day of work and have to work on packing up my room a bit more before going to bed for my shift tomorrow morning. I work tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday so that's good!

March 27th: This is my sister's due date for my incredible niece or nephew! I wouldn't normally share such an intimate moment but my sister and brother-in-law allowed me to be at their midwife appointment to hear the baby's heartbeat and it was such an incredibly moving and momentous occurrence. I will admit I was moved to tears, I'm so amazed at this life growing inside my sister and the immense impact it will have on all of our lives, and already has had. I've never had a maternal instinct in my life but this whole experience has changed me and just thinking about meeting this little Munchkin gets me all verklempt. I'm going to buy it every single Disney thing ever ... don't tell Gareth! :) hehehe. I guessed the baby would be born yesterday (Thursday the 23rd) and I was wrong. Someone had to be the number 1 loser though, and I'm glad to claim the prize.

This is the halloween costume my niece or nephew will be wearing come October 31st, I don't care if it's a girl and Chewbacca is a boy. This is the costume her pug Lily will be wear to accompany Munchkin:

I dare anyone to try and say that is not the greatest combination of halloween costumes ever! I've actually been planning this since I found out my sister was pregnant. It doesn't even have to be halloween! So exciting!

March 31st: Gareth's birthday! yay!

April 1st: My last day of work at Hollyburn!! Yeeehaww! This is actually a really big boxing fundraiser (I'm pretty sure) and should be a somewhat interesting last shift!

This is the background on my computer currently. Or it was until it mysteriously got changed to a picture of Mr. Ryan Kesler, of Vancouver Canucks hockey, who may I say, is lovely.

*~*Precursor to Road Trip Itineray: This is all approximation and may not be reliable at all...you'll just have to wait and see!*~*

April 2nd: Jet setting off to Winnipeg this morning (after a layover in Saskatoon which I'm Super Excited for as it'll mean I've been to every province besides the Maritimes!) and arriving to my dear friend Ashley and her car for the beginning of our road trip!!! Ah, I'm actually super excited about this trip. We are driving down through Minnesota with such notable locations as Grand Forks, Fargo, St. Cloud (which I'm going to pretend is in reference to the Zac Efron movie) and Minneapolis (where my sister things I'll get lipped for my fake Minnesotian accent) to Wisconsin where we're staying in a little town called Eau Claire! Eau Claire is a Tree City, which means they have to celebrate Arbor Day and have a tree planting program and so I'm hoping it's pretty! Also it's suppose to be a great place for young people, and I like to consider myself youthful. It seems like it has a lot of factories/plants though as well, we'll see!

April 3: Pardeeville! Population: 1,982. LOVE IT! I'm so excited for this stop because this is actually a pretty special location...I won't say why now, but if you know, you'd want to go to! haha. I will mention that the town's biggest event is it's Watermelon Festival. Ohhhh small towns :) Departing Wisconsin we head towards the home of the President.. the Windy City it's self...CHICAGO! I can't believe I get to go to Chicago! It's so exciting! We're going to eat deep dish pizza, visit Hyde Park, watch some Blackhawk hockey (Ashley is a diehard Jonathan Toews fan, I'm scared I'll get kicked out of town if I say I'm from Vancouver), and hopefully do an amazing driveby past HARPO STUDIOS!! AHH! OPRAH!

This is not a picture of Oprah (I wish!). This is Janice. She is a secret clue as to why we are making a certain pit stop on the road trip.

how do my blogs always end with Oprah? I actually got super distracted and sent Oprah a letter. With that I need to sleep...so you will find out all about Chicago plans and beyond tomorrow!

Spoiler Alert: I'm going to be a Knight!